College Crew Team Gets Big Head

NY college crew team finds giant floating 'head'

Apr 25 2013 

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (AP) — Anyone lose a giant head made of Styrofoam and fiberglass?

That's what officials at an upstate New York college are asking after the men's crew team found the unusual object floating in the Hudson River.

Officials at Marist College in Poughkeepsie say the team was practicing earlier this week when the coach spotted a large object floating near the river's west bank. He hooked a rope to it and towed it to the team's dock on the east bank.

The object turned out to be a 7-foot-tall replica of a man's head made with Styrofoam and fiberglass. The head has the appearance of a Greek or Roman-style statue.

College officials believe it's a theater prop, but so far no one has come forward to claim the giant head.

Egg In/On Face

Christie's scientific specialist James Hyslop poses for photographs with a sub-fossilized pre-17th century Elephant Bird egg at the auction house's premises in London.

The massive partly fossilized egg laid by a now-extinct elephant bird sold for more than double its estimate at a London auction. Christie's auction house said Wednesday, April 24, 2013, the foot long, nearly nine-inches in diameter egg fetched 66,675 pounds ($101,813). It had been valued at 20,000 to 30,000 pounds pre-sale, and was sold to an anonymous buyer over the telephone after about ten minutes of competitive bidding. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)

"Off With His Head" Cried Henry VIII

Man charged over severed head found in his car trunk

Authorities found a Minnesota man's severed head in the trunk of a car and other body parts in the basement of a Milwaukee home, according to a criminal complaint charging a central Wisconsin man with first-degree intentional homicide.

A judge ordered Kou Thao, 26, held on a $1 million cash bond during an initial appearance Monday. The Wausau man is scheduled for a preliminary hearing May 1.

The investigation began April17 when police were called to a Wausau home. The suspect's brother-in-law, Yeh Lor, told officers Thao came to the house with Tong Pao Hang, a 58-year-old man from St. Paul, Minn. Hang was the boyfriend of Lor's aunt.

Lor told detectives he was smoking outside while Thao and Hang went into the basement to drink. He said he heard what sounded like a single gunshot come from the basement. When he went downstairs to investigate, he saw the victim lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

The two men wrapped the body in a tarp and loaded it into a car, Lor told investigators. Lor told authorities he helped Thao with the body because he thought Thao might have a gun. (Might have a gun.  He had just shot Hang!)

Officers found Thao on Thursday at a Milwaukee home. When police knocked on the door of the home Thao ran out the back door but was quickly caught and arrested, the criminal complaint said.

Wausau police assisted with executing a search warrant on the car and home. They found a bucket in the trunk containing Hang's severed head, with a gunshot wound between the eyes.

Thao later told detectives he had dismembered the body and hid some of the pieces in the basement, along with a knife and the tarp, the complaint said.

Investigators showed him a picture of the basement and he pointed out cushions under which the body parts were hidden, prosecutors said. Detectives later found the body parts. (If they waited a couple of days more everyone in Milwaukee could have smelled the body parts!)

Online court records didn't list a defense attorney for Thao on Tuesday. A message left with the public defender's office wasn't immediately returned.

Thao is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, hiding a corpse and being a felon in possession of a firearm. A conviction on the homicide charge carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison, although a judge could choose to leave open the possibility for parole.

The other two charges carry a maximum combined penalty of 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. They also carry enhanced possible penalty of four additional years as a repeat offender, because Thao was previously convicted of three other charges during the past five years. Those offenses were possession of methamphetamine, battery and two separate charges of retail theft.

A message left with Marathon County prosecutors asking about a possible motive was not immediately returned.

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Seeking Redemption, and Money Too

Mass. woman in sex tape with Buddhist monk

Apr 23 2013 

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts woman has filed a lawsuit against five people she alleges illegally distributed a video of her having a sexual encounter with a Buddhist monk.

Men was helping to lead an effort to raise $10 million for a new temple in Lowell. The sexual encounter took place at a temple in Chelmsford.  The Buddhist temple in the photo is in Japan.

Maya Men said in her lawsuit filed in Middlesex Superior Court last week that the defendants — at least one of whom is a monk — violated her right to privacy and her constitutional rights. She also says their actions intentionally inflicted emotional distress.

According to the lawsuit, Men "has been held up to her relevant community as an individual who should be shunned and scorned, called a thief, and referred to by a plethora of pejorative terms," The Sun of Lowell (http://bit.ly/17NhkJB ) reported.

Men is seeking damages and money for an investigation to locate and confiscate all copies of the video. She also is seeking a temporary restraining order against the defendants and a preliminary injunction barring further distribution or display of the recording.

An anonymous individual not connected with the case said the video might be available on YouTube.

Oops! Sorry, you were here first.

Kan. woman meets tiger in bathroom

Published - Apr 22 2013

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A central Kansas woman likely won't remember her first circus for the clowns or performances — it'll be the tiger in the bathroom.
The big cat had escaped briefly after its turn in the ring Saturday at the Isis Shrine Circus in Salina. Staff members blocked off the concourses at the Bicentennial Center as the tiger wandered into the bathroom, where one of the doors was blockaded.
About that time, Salina resident Jenna Krehbiel decided she needed to use the restroom. When she walked in the door that hadn't been blocked off, she found a tiger standing about 2 feet away, The Salina Journal reported (http://bit.ly/11eq218 ).
"You don't expect to go in a bathroom door, have it shut behind you and see a tiger walking toward you," Krehbiel said.
Chris Bird, manager at the Bicentennial Center, said the bathroom was only 25 feet long.
"Once she saw the tiger, I'm sure she knew to go the other way," Bird said. "Overall, it was a scary, surreal moment. I am glad no one was hurt or injured."
The tiger was captured within minutes and returned to its enclosure.
Krehbiel, a social worker, said she didn't scream or run because she is trained to stay calm.
"Looking back, it was a scary ordeal," she said. "At the time, I was thinking I just needed to get out."
Krehbiel said her 3-year-old daughter had a different reaction.
"My daughter wanted to know if it had washed its hands," Krehbiel said. "That was her only concern. I think that shows the thoughts of children and that they wouldn't have known there was danger."

True Love

Mont. man reunited with bird lost in divorce

Apr 22 2013 

BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — A Great Falls man who lost his macaw in a divorce more than five years ago has been reunited with the bird, thanks to an observant friend.
Mike Taylor picked up the 25-year-old bird he calls "Love Love" at Montana's Parrot & Exotic Bird Sanctuary in Butte on Sunday.
Taylor said his wife sold the bird after a nasty divorce. "I've been kind of looking for him the whole time," he said.
A friend of Taylor's, Steven Campbell, recently spotted the bird during a visit to the sanctuary.
It took some time for Campbell to convince Taylor. Then Taylor had to convince sanctuary founder Lori McAlexander. But she said he knew things about the bird that only a previous owner could have known, like it was blind in one eye, said "love love" and liked to play peek-a-boo.
The bird was surrendered to the sanctuary a couple of years ago after it bit a woman so hard she required medical attention, McAlexander said.
"I don't even handle him because he will bite me," she said.
Love Love appeared to recognize Taylor right away.
"Hangs upside down already, lets

me grab his beak, does his peeky-boo, likes to tuck his head," said Taylor, who called the reunion "very heart touching."
"He's himself again already, he really is. I mean, he (didn't) forget."
Taylor also got the bird's original cage back after searching on Craigslist. A woman who obtained the contents of his ex-wife's storage unit agreed to give him the cage back at no charge.
"It's kind of weird how he's getting his bird and the cage," McAlexander said.
Taylor said he initially got the bird at a sanctuary in Salt Lake City after it was rescued from a woman who reportedly beat it with a broom.
Macaws can live up to 50 years, according to the San Diego Zoo.

Dangerous Travel Companions

Vietnam police seize 53 king cobras from car

Apr 22 2013 

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnamese police say they have seized 53 king cobras from a car in Hanoi and arrested the driver.
Officer Dang Van Hanh said Monday the live snakes were taken to a wildlife rescue center near the capital where they were

treated before being released into the wild.
King cobras are the world's longest venomous snake, and grow up to 5.5 meters (18) feet.
The meat of the king cobras is considered a delicacy by some in Vietnam, where hunting and trading the snakes is banned. The snakes are also sometimes preserved in traditional medicines.
The snakes, which were kept in green sacks, were seized Friday.
Hanh said the car driver told officers he was paid to transport them. Local media reported he was paid under $50.
King Cobras rarely attack humans but their venom is sufficiently lethal to bring down an elephant.

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